#i need to start thumbnailing my art pieces lol

[shroudbud]

IDIAAAA,, 💀🔥 it feels good to draw him again omg

(i redrew an older piece from 2022 lol)

[leeyanyanyaaan]

Kayn x Graffiti Artist!Reader

16 / 11 / 2023

hi hi~ welcome to the start of my heartsteel x headcanon series "creatively charmed"! sorry, i cant think of a better title atm LOL anyways, this is gonna be a series of the heartsteel band with a lover who's got a creative side to them XD that's all, hope you enjoy! next up will be sett ^-^

Started with another one of days where Kayn decided to go out and wreak havoc by vandalizing everything LOL

When he does he often comes across a lot of grafitti art, this one in particular has a certain style to it

He always lets out a little chuckle when he sees it.

Now, as a fellow artist himself, he is respectful enough to not ruin that person's art, but he does his own grafitti nearby. For him it always includes his HEARTSTEEL icon and if he's feeling good then some song lyrics or a joke

This time, it was shortly after HEARTSTEEL's debut MV released, so when he left to do his usual vandalizing, he wrote "two sides to a story but they never tell my side" with a bunch of doodles. He was particularly proud of this piece, so he was planning to continue working on it the next day

What he didn't expect, however, was for someone to continue the lyrics, with "never been the kinda guy to stay inside the guidelines" written underneath, as well as some art of Kayn's scenes and even a headshot drawing of him from their single's thumbnail

Kayn was surprised and amazed to see it, and broke out into an excited shit-eating grin once he saw the artist's signature that he saw in all their other pieces

"So, looks like I captured this person's heart too. Ever the popular star I am, no?"

And so, he continued the lyrics to his verse, secretly hoping this grafitti artist will continue it again.

Which they did, and gradually, that specific wall gradually filled up with PARANOIA's lyrics from their gradual exchange, even with additional doodles of the other members, Ernest and Rhaast, and some of the funny scenes of the MV

Even mini conversations started with side comments on each others drawings, for example:

"This dog -> true MVP of HEARTSTEEL"

"The dog in the MV? His name's Ernest. (But Kayn is the real MVP)"

"LOL u come up w that name? I can see it tho ngl"

Oh right, this person doesn't know this is THE Kayn Shieda they're talking to

Anyways, this exchange made Kayn excited to come back every time (even his bandmates questioned why he goes out every night looking all excited)

Same with Rhaast actually LOL, but Kayn doesn't let him because he knows how crazy he gets when it comes to vandalizing

"I WANT A TURNNN KAYNNN" "No! I don't need you drawing 100 dicks on the wall again!" "THAT'S HOW MUCH OF A DICKHEAD YOU AREE-"

But alas, all good things must come to an end, after... 2 months, I guess? They had finished writing all the lyrics of the song and the whole wall was full of just HEARTSTEEL PARANOIA. Okay, so that's the end of it then.

Until a paper plane hit the top of Kayn's head. Annoyed, Kayn immediately lifted his head up to the direction it was thrown, yapping angrily at whoever had the fucking audacity to do that

Just as he was about to crumple the plane, he noticed writing on one of its wings, "read me!" Raising a brow curiously, he opened up the paperplane, where it revealed a username with a discord logo drawn next to it, along with your artist signature :)

I love how writing for Kayn gives me the free reign to swear AHAHAHDJSN

[piyo13sdoodles]

day 28, chapter 76:

At the expression on Quintus' face Cliopher could take no more. He started laughing before he made it out of the room, though the loudest whoops came after he'd reached the hallway. He did not get far along, just sank down at the top of the stairs so he could try to muffle his mirth with his hands. ~ "Your family seems somewhat perturbed," Rhodin observed after a few minutes.

and bonus gallery shot + musings under the cut because it's been exactly 4 weeks now:

fun to see what kinds of patterns intentionally or unintentionally crop up... or also which days i can tell i was busy vs which days i had time or worked in advance to dedicate more time to the piece. if anyone's curious, on average one of these might take me 2-3 hours to complete! more detailed ones like october 23 i think probably took me closer to 5 hours, simpler ones like october 9 maybe 1.5h.

i am both sad and glad it's almost over--i've definitely lost a fair amount of sleep trying to get these done in time (usually i work a day ahead so i can post at a reasonable time, but that hasn't always worked out, especially in the final stretch here), so this pace does become untenable on top of work, but it also is really fun to make so much art! and to always have something to work on rather than becoming trapped into that idea of 'what should i do, too many choices, can't decide..' the answer is always inktober!

in any case, seeing the gallery like this is also interesting to me because it really helps me realize where i could have/should have pushed the ink a bit more--working in ink is (to me; this is definitely not gospel, just how i consider ink work) an exercise in controlling contrast. you don't have colour to drive edges or cool/warm tones, so the only value you have is the light-dark contrast, and in my mind at least, good use of contrast should carry across to a smaller format. for example, zoomed out like this i can see that october 11th really needed more contrast in the feathers--they blend too much into the background in a way that doesn't really work to emphasize that ludvic is standing in front of the candles there. otoh, on october 5, i think that one's fine because what i wanted was for the moon to draw the eye first, and THEN for you to notice HR sitting there.

overall, also, i want to keep these interesting--if the compositions are always the same, then it can become repetitive or boring, so i wanted a good mix of light and dark compositions, and a good balance of tone across all of them. which so far i'm pleased with! and this year i let myself use pencil undersketches and do thumbnail planning and everything (last year i really wanted to get better at visualizing the piece in my head so i set the challenge of just committing straight to paper... i'm still happy with last year's but you can tell i took on much more challenging compositions this year lol)

anyway!! much to think about, so much to learn, i wanted to work a bit in advance again so i won't be putting tomorrow's up almost at midnight again but alas i think it was not meant to be, so i'm off to bed and if you read this whole thing, congrats, have a cookie *hands you a cookie*

[flightyalrighty]

(sorry if you've gotten this before or if this is not the right kind of question for the blog)

Do you have any advice on HOW to make a comic series? From what I've seen your work is fantastic, well made and written! (Cool concepts, story, and character dynamics etc)

How did you start? How DO you start?? How do you comic lol

I'm glad you enjoy my work! I'll do my best to answer this question!

I could give the ol' "Just jump in! Get started!" But I don't think that's the answer you're looking for, here. Even if it's technically the correct one.

"How do you make a comic series" Is one of those questions where the answer is kinda difficult to summarize in a single ask, because there's a whole lot that goes into it, y'know? I'll give you a brief run-down of my process.

I figure an idea for a story. In the case of Infested, the whole story was written before I even got started on the script. This is an outlier in my usual process and I don't normally do this and definitely don't recommend it.

Figure the plot like how you would figure a regular story's plot; The beats you wanna hit, the way the characters develop, the beginning, the middle, the end. What's the point of the story? What, exactly, are you trying to convey here? Who's the target audience? All that stuff ought to be figured out before even picking up a [MEDIUM OF ARTIST'S CHOICE].

Script the story. If you've seen a movie script, these things look a bit like that. You wanna not skip this step because this is where you determine the visual language of each page. Comic script writing is a whole thing and a half but I do have some random tips regarding it. -> When writing the beginning of a new scene, write down the time of day, the weather, and any important details about your setting (this is most important if you're working in a team). -> Using storyboard/film language when trying to figure out a scene is very helpful. You're not gonna remember exactly how that scene looked in your head when you finally get around to penciling it. Trust me. Write it down. Or thumbnail it! Thumbnails are also very helpful! -> Remember that you have very limited space for dialogue. Write with that in mind.

Figure the paneling on a page. I work at 11x17 and do my panel layouts based on those dimensions. I tend to make more important panels, or panels with PUNCH or SHOCK bigger than the others. Each panel is an individual illustration, but together they make a whole piece. You gotta treat it like that, y'know? Find the focal point on a page, find the most important element of it, and make that your focal point. Don't be afraid to get a lil wacky with panel shapes, either. They don't HAVE to be squares and rectangles. Check out what other cartoonists do! Get inspired! Paneling is an art-form within itself!

Page from "Hanna Is Not A Boy's Name" By Tess Stone

5. Penciling time! Get the perspective figured out, then draw the background, then draw the characters. Do it in that order. Trust me. With a background already set up, characters can be drawn more like they exist within that space, instead of floating in front of it. Also? Be aware that comic artists need to be ready to draw ANYTHING. You may have a great idea that you GOTTA put out into the world, but you have no idea how to draw, say, a car. Or debris. Or jungle foliage. There's no shame in using references, tutorials, or even doing a bit of tracing if something's outside your wheelhouse. Here's a bazillion tutorials from two guys who REALLY know their stuff.

6. Speech Balloons! Yes, really. In fact, you may want to do this and penciling at the same time. I certainly do. It's better to figure this out immediately so it doesn't hurt you later when it comes to getting your balloons to share a space with your art. Here's some great advice on the whole subject from a master of the craft

7. Inks! Line weight variation is key. Closer to the "camera" means thicker lines. If a part of a character is in shadow, that part is gonna get thicker lines, too. Personally, I make my background line art thinner than character line art. It helps the characters pop out!

8. Flats! Or flat colors if you wanna get specific about terminology. It's exactly what it sounds like -- Coloring the characters and backgrounds with the bare bones basic colors. I highly recommend keeping the character flats and bg flats on separate layers if you're working digitally.

9. Rendering! There's no hard and fast rule as to how a cartoonist ought to render their comic -- If they want to do that at all, even. Go with what you believe looks good AND is something you can do quickly. The "quickly" part is important. Heed my warning. Don't be like me.

And then I'd schedule the comic to be uploaded on whatever day suits me -- Thursday (usually) in Infested's case.

Of course, I kinda suck at relaying my process, so the final thing I can do for you is direct you to an extremely helpful book that really breaks it down in a way that may click with you as it did with me.

I hope this was in any way helpful to you!

[virydia]

Hi! so sorry to bother u lol and i’m sorry if you’ve already answered but what app do you use to draw? I finally saved up and have an i pad and pencil and i was gonna get procreate and i saw it was 13$… i dont mind getting it if it’s worth it but is it? Do you use it? If not then what app would you recommend? This is my first time digitally drawing btw i’ve drawn on paper before! Also honestly any tips on general on drawing digital would mean a lot! :) thank you and i hope you fave a fabulous day! 🫶🫶🫶

My such high praise 🫣 thank you so much!!

I’d say procreate is very much worth it! Though I do have some qualms about it such as it’s limited layers (depending on your canvas size) and the fact that you can’t select/edit a group (you have to do it individually, but there are workarounds)

Another one you can try is ClipStudioPaint, I don’t personally use it but my friend does and what’s cool is that if you have it on pc, from what I’m told you can connect your account on mobile and pc for a cross platform situation

Aside from procreate I also use PaintToolSai2 for pc when I’m streaming and I usually have like 50+ layers per artwork, so it was definitely a huge adjustment when I first started using procreate 😂

As for tips, definitely find references if you can! I usually use a 3D app called poseit (mobile) or posemyart (web) and it has helped me significantly! (My 3D animator ass can’t live without them now 🥲) though I don’t always follow the pose I make to a T, it’s there to help me visualize the bits and pieces I can see in my brain 😂

My process usually goes like this:

vague Shitty thumbnail —> reference/3D posing —> art

But honestly my best advice is just keep drawing and have fun with it, no need to think too much, never stop learning new things and if you have a hyper fixation that’s even better 😂

[pigeonstab]

i wish to know your art process

and your favorite type of candies/food :p

my process is never 100% the same so I'll do an approximation lol.

I might start with an optional thumbnail, I do this if I have trouble the first time, this is like teeny tiny in the corner of my canvas, just to get the flow of the pose without worrying about anatomy and stuff, for backdrops I always do it.

then it usually goes one of two ways, a line sketch or blocking in

even though blocking in is "better" because it forces me to think about shapes and silhouette I often just do line sketches cause it's easier ^^;

then I do a nicer sketch over the initial one, from there I can lower the opacity of that sketch and spend an 2+ hours doing lineart and sobbing or the sketch is good as is and just needs refining, that's why if you look at my art you can really see two types of lineart lol. I also color my lineart, I think it's a little detail that helps a lot.

after that I color, nothing I can illustrate, I usually use clip studio's special lasso tool bc it just grabs only the inside of the lineart, plop a color down and alpha lock it then I can put all my different colors willy nilly and it won't go outside the lines. If the lasso tool doesn't work I just do the same but by hand.

if I want to shade I add a multiply layer, I have one dark color and one light one, go ham. Boom piece shaded.

This obviously isn't mentioning the years spent studying and getting muscle memory and an understanding of these things, there are things I can do only cause I've just been at it a while ^^ this is just my process now with the current state my art is in.

also hot chocolate <3

[deathclassic]

art tag

love a good art tag so thank you @doshiart for thinking of me <3

How did you start drawing? What year was it that you become more seriously and consciously interested in it?

uh ive been drawing all my life, i wanted to be an 'artist' when i was 6 and then it kinda went into different ideas surrounding art - tattoo artist, graphic designer, illustrator, etc etc and then i decided to pursue graphic design afer high schoo about 8 years ago? and have a degree in that now

When you felt the urge to share your art with other people? When did you start posting your drawings on social media?

i was always drawing for other people and then i started posting my fanart when i got twitter and tumblr in 2010, so it's still floating around on here

Your first/earliest drawing. What were your impressions of it back then and what are your feelings now?

i was probably really proud of it and had probably never seen a giraffe at all, i was 5. there's earlier ones out there of course but this is the earliest i could find around me

Your first fanart ever

i cant find my fanart of my little pony from 2004, or my fall out boy, panic at the disco and my chemical romance stuff from 2008. i drew this of ian in 2011 though.

Your first gallavich fanart

see above

When you had bad days and things didn't work out, what inspired you to keep trying?

what else was i gonna do with my life lol, im not good at maths, im not good at english, im not good at science so this was the only thing left. i dont share what i draw most of the time, no one needs to see it, so i just sketch whats around me, i scribble just to get the anxiety out. and then i come back sometimes weeks later like it never happened.

Show your old piece that you strongly dislike and tell why.

i was just getting back into the shameless fandom after being in and out since 2011 and i hadnt actually drawn them for a long time so i hate this one with a burning passion.

Show your old piece that you very like and tell why. What's the difference with the previous?

this is a scanned version, it's done entirely in sharpie. i like how simple it is, just one medium, stark contrast, and yeah. difference between them is that one is digital and one is traditional, one was done after drawing them for years and the other was done after taking a break to draw for other fandoms.

Show your old piece that you were very proud of back then.

maybe this one from university? i made a guidebook of architecture of melbourne and i drew every building by hand, i did this maybe 4 years ago?

Do you do any practice sketches or warm-ups before you draw something big?

oh yeah - mind maps, thumbnails, hand drawn text exploration, figure sketches, writing down different values. every single one of my drawings that get posted start like this

Sketch vs Final. Show your process.

i had to redesign the blair witch movie poster

Your most recent drawing.

logo ive been working on for a client - not bound by contract so i can share it with you because i dont want to share my secret santa thing lol

Give yourself some praise! Look at what improved in your art!

im glad you kept going. through all the death threats, through people selling your stuff without you knowing, through the depression. who knew you'd still be drawing for the same fandoms decades later?

Any advice you'd give to your earlier self?

stop giving a SHIT about everyone else. draw for yourself and no one else.

Set a goal for yourself for the coming year.

stop getting taken advantage of <3

im tagging @spookygingerr @ghoulish-art-tendencies

@vintagelacerosette @suzy-queued @cal-tastrophe @iansw0rld @heymrspatel @grumble-fish

[dennydraws]

What do you mean it's mid February!?

Anyone else feel like time is kinda speed racing? :D;; only me?? Work has been a landslide, holiday event after holiday event which made me overdo my regular coffee intake and now I suffer the consequences of wrecked sleep, migraines and back pain and my friends will probably put me in time out box after reading this... u_u;; I always stress eat/drink during work's more intense periods... and by drink I mean coffee - alcohol is not something I'm fond of anymore.

It feels like a pattern of, work gets busy, I stress, I can't manage with my own personal project, I try to unwind with shows/games then feel guilty stressed I didn't work on said projects and aaaa...

Now that work is calming down, I'm trying to get back into healthier habits and reducing the coffees to 1-2 during the day instead of having the coffee machine injected into my veins through the weekdays lol;;;

I feel iffy I've fallen off with my OCKiss Week challenge, I was excited to do it and my eyes are always super tired once I'm home after work. I hope to get at least 1 drawing done ;u; I was thinking of sketches but maybe just 1 finished piece will be okay. Kisses are still actually kinda hard for me! I end up locked in a loop of adjusting the sketch forever xD;; but that's also fun part of the challenge!

I'm iffy I'm still not done with Sneric Comic chapter 15... I do good progress then something else pops up and I have to do that in the weekend instead. It doesn't help that it's like 9-10 pages and procreate suddenly reminded me I have way too many layers :D;;;; It is a bit too much for a chapter, I admit. My chapters are like 5 pages top and this one is twice the size. I did recently do an overlook of what's left to illustrate, there is still some big story points to hit... so much about "short comic" ...u_u;;;

Admittedly when I started this, supposedly short story, I didn't think it will go for over a year. I did learn some things though! Like, I miss when I draw pages traditionally and I should never underestimate the importance of pre-planning and thumbnailing xD;; I should've learned by now but nope... I thought I could yolo it cause I wasn't super serious with this comic and went off with purely vibes.

Other than that... I'm at the final post end game content in Rune Factory 4! It was a ton of fun :D I loved the characters so much! I am floored at the amount of dialogue and attention to detail. This game spoiled me greatly... u_u;; I don't know if I can finish the Rune Prana dungeon by the end of the month but I will try (Suikoden Remaster is coming in March aaa)!! My Frey got to marry Arthur and I was not prepared for the amount of feels his events brought me. This poor, poor man needs to be pampered and loved. I hope I can squeeze some fan art sometime soon... T^T;;;

Other than that, I'm eating well with Severance season 2!! Oh gosh, this show is an absolute delight to watch... visually and mentally. I'm kinda glad there is one episode every friday otherwise I'd have binged everything and this show feels like it needs a slower consumption. xD It's nice to see a show where the little "whatfuckary" is actually well thought out and intentional.... unlike this other show -side glance at From- .... at least this is the impression I'm getting so far! :D Anyhowsies! This was my quick life update... and I need to scoot back to work now! I hope everyone is doing well and enjoy the chocolates for St Valentine, spend some time with loved ones or give yourself some much deserved quality time! :>

Thank you for stopping by, dear reader!

[noneedforflowers]

✿ No Need for Flowers 12/15/24 ✿

Progress update!

Hello! It's been a while since I've posted, and I'd like to share how development is going!

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Steam page progress

My original plan was to make this update after publishing the Steam page, but it's taken longer than expected. As it turns out, registering an LLC, opening a new bank account, and researching how to make a professional-looking Steam page takes time, lol. It's almost done, though! All that's left is to finish the capsule art.

I was going to publish the store page with rushed placeholder art, just to get it out there. Before I went through with it, I asked some of my friends what they thought, and I got the impression it was probably not the best idea. This is what I showed them:

I mashed a bunch of assets together and color shifted everything to be brighter...

It seems like the best decision would be to make an original piece now instead. Making good art will take much more time than just mashing assets together, but I think it'll be worth it. Here are some of the rough thumbnails I came up with:

Trying to go for a cool and dynamic composition

I'll post the final whenever it's completed, so look forward to that!

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How far is development?

Very far. Like, I'm currently working on the final boss far.

Honestly, I somewhat regret waiting this long to start making NNFF public (2 years!!), but also working with zero pressure and zero need to think about social media for so long helped me get a lot of work done. So I actually somewhat don't regret it.

Here's a rough idea of the major tasks left:

Final level + final boss

Some cutscenes

Most CGs/big art pieces

Some fluff features, such as a sound test

Polishing the story draft and dialogue

Getting feedback and testing

Music and SFX

There are a few more things, but those are the least spoiler-y and most time-consuming ones.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

What I'm currently working on

I've been hopping between working on the final boss, finalizing the story and writing, and random bug fixes.

One specific thing that took a lot of my time recently was finalizing a monologue that's told in the background of one of the end-game stages. I still have to run it by some friends to see if it sucks, but here's a snippet of it:

I'm trying to make NNFF as unique of an experience that I can, so I added quite a few experimental things like this.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Thank you for reading this far. I hope to have more things to share with you soon!

[just-ghaleon]

NEW ASK GAME: Tell me to finish one of my 105 Lunar clipstudio and paint tool sai drawing WIPs

Send me an ask or reply in the comments! :3c (plz&thnx, I need the prodding to actually FINISH stuff ;;u;;)

You can also pester me for more Queer Lunar Theory and Headcanons at the same time, if you want! <3

WIP Queue List (TY <3):

@musicalmeowsandcandiedlemons wants to see ghalliebutt.clip :3c - FINISHED! Posted! :3c

ghaleons ankle monitor.clip is whispering dark secrets to @zombiemollusk >:3 - DONE! Posted!!

@fyeahlunar wants to see ALL ^^;;;;;;; (yeah me too, i'm tryinggg) narrowing it down:

lunar strip poker (lunar uno is a companion piece ;3) - It's done!! Now posted!!!

luna meets ghaleon - Old Art Redraw project, considering attack angle...

lemia comforts ghaleon - Refining sketch and colors...

ghaleon being soft series - ehehehe, so these files are completely blank XD Sometimes I just make files with titles of what I'd like to draw while I'm waiting for poses to come to mind.. ^^; I did a quick rough sketch in each one!! One step closer to done, lol!

dead xenobia reaction - Still coloring and inking lmao

eb dyne prank - Thumbnails done! Refining layout...

blue star eclipse - Finished! Posted!!

a new journey - Refining sketch MORE...

a new perspective - Finished!! Posted!

jb cast 5 years later series - These files were completely blank lol, have pasted the old pencil sketches into corresponding files, and started sketches for the ones I never had pencil sketches for!

mewthemew on my discord wants me to finish proto ghaleon.clip! - Sketch already complete, need to start dropping in colors...

(Reply or send an Ask to Queue a WIP! <3)

Misc Requests Queue (Always feel free to send me random Lunar drawing requests! They feed meee, and give me a good excuse to do more drawing memes if I'm in the mood for 'em):

Luna and Lucia for @fyeahlunar - It's finished!!

Continuing Lunar Queer Theory episodes for @zekedms - Episode 2 in progress!

Kyle and Jess hanging out in dresses for @tiphares - Finished!

Lunar Zine Progress:

Made a project blog! (but it's uncustomized at the moment.) @lunarzine

Need to decide on deadlines...

And a page minimum...

And the physical size of the zine...

So I can make margin templates...

Need to install Scribus and find some tutorials... (Hopefully it's not too drastically different from InDesign.)

Need to research setting up a Google form for submissions...

And when most of that is done, I'll be ready to call for submissions!

[dorkfruit]

i put this together using my computer's trackpad so the new year is already starting out . bad .

posts: J | F | M | A | M | J | J | A | S | O | N | D

template

reflections on the year, my plans for the future, some studies i did, and wips for the next year all down below for those who are interested

tldr; we will be ianthing next year so watch out!!

oh dear lord it's been another year. 2024! can you believe it! i don't talk much on this blog because i have a tendency to talk too much, but it's my little new year's treat, so here we go.

RECAP

i started taking drawing "seriously" in December of 2020, starting to do studies and stuff, and each year since i've ramped it up more and more. this year, i did. a lot of studies. there's probably like at least 200 more in my folder now (not including the 300 days worth of gesture drawings i did), with things like painting, faces, feet, poses, etc. anything i was struggling with, i went right into studying it. my art has been mediocre for a pretty long time now, and it's only the past few months where i feel i'm starting to get the hang of it, which is exciting!

more importantly, i started posting a lot more on this blog. i really like documenting my progress, looking on where i was before and seeing how i've improved. everytime i draw some fanart, im like, oooghh i can't wait to show my (: followers (: !! lots of locked tomb art of course. i've been trying to nail the energy of the different characters, which is why i enjoy books so much, because you get a lot of creative control. drawing ianthe is my fav of course, cause she's my lil nasty, but also i enjoyed doing designs for characters i hadnt thought about before, like judith.

in addition to the locked tomb, we had some new fandoms that got brief moments in between iantheposting: Fear and Hunger, Postal, Faith The Unholy Trinity, and a couple of old ones too, like We Have Always Lived In The Castle and The Merciless.

i posted about 115 times this year, although most of those are shitposts LOL i love posting stuff on my blog and showing people my stuff <3

THE FUTURE

my plans? do more ianthe art, of course. ill be working on more studies, probably going to work on developing a style, and figuring out how to paint. i'd like to do more actually finished pieces, but let's be honest, it'll still be mostly shitpost doodles. i'd like to do more weird stuff. i've been messing around with some gore and NSFW near the end of the year, and it's fun to draw for me. i like idk art that evokes some type of emotion, especially discomfort, and so i find that type of art fun to do, so if you don't enjoy what i've done thus far in that direction, perhaps this isn't the blog for you. i really like horror media, and so i want to do some stuff like that too.

for specifics, i like western type art, a comic book-esque style i'd like to aim for. but i'd like it to be a little more. weird with it. i find comic books often draw all the characters the same, and make all the characters traditionally attractive, and that's boring to me so i'll have to work on finding a way to keep things weird, while also appealing in a graphic sense. the worst thing my art could be is bland and forgettable.

locked tomb wise... more tridentarii art. need to be really weird with it. i have lots of wips planned, like i have a whole page worth of just thumbnails, so i wanna get some of those done. also i had a few animatics i wanted to do. mostly stupid shit, once i learn how to do animatics, then we'll do actual serious ones. id also like to do more comics. i have some comics storyboarded out with my girlies, i like telling a story so, need practice on that. id also like to develop a way to consistently draw them, for convenience sakes, so i'm not fighting for my life every single time i draw these characters. oh and i wanna do some outfit stuff. i draw them in like. generic clothes everytime but i'd like to come up with a few actual outfit designs, that i can just reference back to. and, of course, more shitposts. lots of stupid shit in 2024 for sure. there was something else i wanted to say here but i can't remember.

ART

oki enough rambling, here's some IMAGES for yall to look at i know everyone loves to look at images.

began this year by warming up with gesture sketches (almost) every day. i started with 20 poses (30 seconds each), and then in november i was like. ugh my hands suck i need to get better at hands, so i switched to doing 10 hand sketches (60 seconds each). i want my art to be very energetic so it's important that i do these !!

anatomy studies of extremities because i'm flopping at those -_- ive gotten better with hands but they're still a struggle. i hate feet tho still

need to get my painting game up. i joined an art forum to get advice, and the biggest suggestion i got was working on my values, so i did various value studies. also lots of faces because my faces flop !!

random doodles to work on drawing from imagination. on my "sketchbook" pages, as i like to call them, i'm usually pretty loose and messy, since the point is just to be drawing so often these will suck, but that's fine. i don't think very much when i draw faces on here either so they end up being in my Instinctive Style i suppose you could say

ianthe wip. i was planning to do a few drawings based on the idea of her having Missing Arm nightmares, but the lineart was intimidating to me so i haven't worked on this one more yet /: also there was going to be a toontown gay homosexual toxic yuri comic that i was gonna put here with it but the page is way too long so umm guess that'll have to wait.

...

anyways. thank you for reading if you got to the bottom of this! i appreciate all the support that i've been getting lately (extra big kissies for the same like 5 people who always reblog my posts youre the best). and we will be ianthing soo hard in 2024 so watch out!!

[deadbaguette]

I literally love your art sm. It's a big inspiration of mine.

So! A question I have is, what's your process? How do you go about getting ideas and turning them into pieces? I would really love to know <3

WUUAHHHGGH OMG URE SO SWEET 🥹🥹😭🥹😭😭😭 Melting with joy uaushfhshgs,, I cannot fathom someone being inspired by my art this means sm to me🥺🙏

As for my process? I always have ideas floating around my mind, but when I actually feel like turning it into a piece it usually starts with me making some thumbnails (one or two normally but it can be more sometimes). My process changes depending on the style I’m doing that piece in?? I try avoid doing actual line art if possible but that’s entirely on the grounds that I hate doing it LOL. Most of my process is spent messing around with colours because that’s the most fun part to me. Colours are a big part of me actually starting a piece, even during the sketch I try map out the values vaguely and colour language is always at the forefront of my mind when tackling a piece.

But from start to finish my process looks like this:

Inspiration for an idea is usually just what character I am feeling attached to on that given week. I doodle them quite a lot (traditional or digital) before making an actual piece with them so I can figure out stylisation and what kind of mood I’m in

Thumbnailing. This is not always present? If I have a clear image in my mind of what I want to draw or I’m just vaguely drawing a character, I won’t thumbnail. But I always thumbnail if it’s more than one character

Cleaning up the sketch or god forbid the line art usually happens now. I hate this part because my thumbnails are quite messy so this is the part where I actually have to think hard about how the final piece will look

Value planning and colour planning is my favourite part and what I am actually thinking about since the beginning. This is also where I plan the lighting. As a general rule of thumb I try keep my layers under/around 10 so it makes rendering a little easier

Rendering rendering rendering. I add details and paint the colour layers with all that they need. Merge all the layers (as a duplicate) and paint over again to further render, clean up, paint over the line art/sketch

Make some final colour adjustments with gradient map or curves before adding some noise and maybe cross hatching

[axxelaxxelaxxel]

If you're starting out in gouache and don't know what you're doing, here's my process, hopefully it helps!!!

I've been gouache painting for a year or two now, and it's my favorite medium. Here's a piece I did last night, and below the cut is a more detailed guide to my process for anyone hoping to improve their skills. In any other case you can also just enjoy the art lol

Step One, Thumbnails!

The first thing I try to nail out is a thumbnail. The first thumbnail I came up with for this was really nice and I liked it a lot, so I kept it, but i encourage messing around with different compositions and configurations! Once you find something you like, the next step is optional since you need acril-gouache to pull it off.

(Optional) Step Two, Underpainting!

This is moreso just a personal choice honestly, but I think doing an underpainting really helps with color coordination. Unfortunately, you need acrylics or acril-gouache to do underpainting, because regular gouache will pull back up once it's dry, where acril-gouache will not. I personally have a nice little 12 color set that I got from Michaels for like, 60-ish bucks. Definitely a bit expensive.

I usually try out a few different ideas and then use a sponge to lay them on the canvas.

Step Three, Outlining!

Now, I use a very washed out and watered down version of my main colors (red and snail, in this case) to sort of mark out where I wasn't my subjects to be. You'll notice I did deviate from the thumbnail a little bit, which is absolutely fine. As long as it carries the same vibe, it generally isn't an issue.

Step Four, the rest?? Idk what to call this part.

Using less and less water in my paint to make it thicker and thicker, I work forward until it looks how I want it to. If you look closely you can still see some spots where the underpainting comes through the paint. I usually work dark to light. Since I use paper for these, this step usually also involves making some sort of makeshift press to flatten the paper back out, since it warps and bends a lot during painting. I also like putting a border around the subjects and some paint colors the same color as the underpainting/background.

Last step, let's goo!!!

Now that the tape is off, I tend to sharpie in a neat little border with a work title at the top and my name at the bottom. I also go into a digital software to do some slight touchups, usually just color rebalancing to fix my terrible lighting in my room and making the borders a little neater.

[binarybitex]

behind the scenes: Boss Babysitter

with the most recent chapter of Heart Hollow being released (Boss Babysitter), I thought I'd share some insights into my creation, writing, and notetaking for it.

caution: this post contains spoilers!

Welcome to Boss Babysitter; Mr. Andrei Wright decides he needs to come back down to the Hotel's floor after his Assistant Manager - Lewis Lockheart - destroys company property in an emotional overflow. Zeke, still processing having seen his orderly manager snap, has to join the two managers throughout daily tasks at Heart Hollow Hotel. The three of them oversee maintenance, attempt to review an end-of-week-report, and have a meeting with housekeeping. Not even halfway through the day, Mr. Wright decides it's time for lunch; Zeke offers him a cigarette outside in order to give the two managers some space. One questionable conversation later, Zeke trudges back inside to enjoy Lewis' company for the remainder of his break. After a brief history lesson and some comments that are just a bit too sweet for coworkers, Zeke and Lewis' attention is brought outside as Andrei Wright gets arrested for fraud.

the earliest mention of this chapter was from the very first Heart Hollow master arc list (dated 2019 or so). a lot of things have changed, but I knew from the get-go that Andrei was going to be arrested.

fun fact: when i was originally creating Heart Hollow in 2019, I was taking a much more adult-comedy-cartoon route. there was, in fact, going to be a shoot-out as (gasp) the FBI and (even bigger gasp) the IRS show up!!! i decided to scrap that. it just doesn't match the "real-life" drama route im taking now lol

the arc list from november 2021 is one of the first redrafts of the story after my 2-year art block.... the one from april 2022 was after I started making the comic. again, lots of things have changed, but I always outlined space for an episode revolving around Andrei's arrest

here's me brainstorming potential chapter names. i recall struggling with the name because i liked a lot of my options; however, i eventually stuck to "Boss Babysitter"

........

(eheheh it's a play on the hit DreamWorks film "The Boss Baby" featuring Alec Baldwin as "The Boss Baby")

the first idea on what i wanted the meat of the chapter to be about. i wanted to really put the nail in the coffin about Andrei's mismanagement and how that's been affecting Lewis.

more exploration into what the chapter was to be about. i find this one curious, actually, as this was from my earlier notebook (2021-2022) so I guuuuueeeeess I had a pretty good grasp on this chapter early on......??? thank god for notebooks bc it's really hard to keep everything crammed up in my brain.

the chapter before it ("The Heart of Heart Hollow") concluded on Lewis punching the employee bathroom's mirror. i had to bring up the aftermath, how Zeke was managing having seen that. i also wanted to touch upon Lewis' return back, and how unlike him it is to take an impromptu vacation like that. i knew even in the earliest drafts of this scene, that Lewis was going to lie about where he got his wounds from.

early sketches of Lewis' arrival after his impromptu vacation. these lil thumbnails make me giggle.... theyre just so silly lookin.

i also needed to consider how their day was spent with Andrei joining them. i broke it down piece by piece here, scene by scene. i love my additions of dialogue within my loose ideas. it really brings momentum to my writing process.

also, sidenote: can I just say that I do not hold the same beliefs as Andrei? he's a shit head and i wanted to make his character very uncomfortable to be around.

the scene between Andrei and Zeke was one I've had planned for years. it was so euphoric to finally write it out and send it out into the world. here's the snippet where he outwardly admits to his white collar crime.

for the longest time, I was going to reveal that Zeke was living at the Hotel at the very end of "Boss Babysitter"..... however, when I was writing the aftermath of the mirror break (in "The Heart of Heart Hollow"), I thought it appropriate to include Zeke's squatter status. the drama of the story starts to tie itself together as we witness Lewis do something dangerous and impulsive, and learn something rather confidential about Zeke. we start to wonder: who are these characters? what have they gone through to lead them here?

lastly...... just a little doodle of Andrei in prison garb. i love that he's let his beard grow a bit more.

[copper-skulls]

How long do you spend on your art pieces in general?

I know a lot of artists who will spend weeks working on pieces little by little, and then a whole other lot will sit down for a few hours and draw from start to finish . It's just interesting to find out little bits about people's art processes and how different it is for everyone

Have a lovely day!!

Nowadays? Mostly 2-4 hours per piece, so I can sit down and finish them during a single evening. That's the square and traditionally inked stuff you see pretty often from me :) the formats of both of these limit the complexity of what can fit in, so they naturally don't take that long. Most of my artfight pieces also fit into this, apart from few that got away from me and needed a second evening.

When I start getting more complicated (which isn't that often rn, because it takes a certain kind of energy), it can climb REALLY FAST. Ex.: this thing (https://copper-skulls.tumblr.com/post/726934739427147777/yeehawgust-28-gunsmoke-thats-him-the-guy) isn't even shaded or properly coloured and took 6-8 hours. For these the process usually is picking away at the sketch for few evenings, then lining in small chunks since lining these things is exhausting and hard on the wrist, and then I blow through the colouring in an evening since I very much fall into the Zone(TM) (Yes, I do the whole forgetting to eat during these, and can pull staying-up-till-2am if I'm not careful lol). A4 or similar (which is the ratio I tend to pick bcs it lends itself well for my usual compositions) can climb to 12+ hours very easily :D they can also live in my sketchbook as thumbnails or full pages of trying to figure them out for literal months before I buckle down to work on them lol.

Thank you anon! 💚

[pioneeroverc-my-5000th-sideblog]

FOUR MONTH ART IMPROVEMENT RATE COMPARISON - May 2023

art block: 2/19 (from 2/19)

personal: 19/19

study/figure drawing sessions: 12/129 days(from 32/105) check numbers on these

Same goals as yearly - absolutely not, I've really fallen off on these. Currently re-evaluating whether these are actually doable

Finish DAB Lesson 7 - no, but I did make good progress on it last month!

1 finished piece with 2pt+ perspective plotted background (or two sketched screenshot studies with same) - I assume this was supposed to be 'per month'… I did five things with actual perspective in the entire four month period but two of them were just sketches and most of them were very plain and undetailed. NO WONDER I'm not getting better at this lol

one screenshot study per month - can focus on any area (perspective, expressions, colours, composition, etc.) - I DIDN'T DO THIS AT ALL

In May, I will have even more mileage drawing hands interacting with things and have experimented with different ways of ideating on composition thumbnails - actually true!Definitely not anywhere near good at drawing hands yet but my 3D sense improving is helping me draw interactions. I tried a few ways of doing thumbnails but nothing has really stuck more than my painful 'just draw a bunch of stuff and try to fit it together afterwards' process. At least I tried

Studies done: FIGUARY, DAB stuff, breakdowns for some random objects I needed to draw, Proko ribcage and shoulder bones, lots of tracing (boot opening contours, heads to see how eyes fit in at 3/4 view, stylised hair/outfit trims to see how different artists do them), one fold study, some form intersections

Ups and downs here, with periods of Good Study interspersed with (more) periods of I Am Too Unmotivated To Do Anything. Whenever I am struggling to draw something, I end up just not drawing anything at all, even stuff that's unrelated and should be fun for me. This is something I really wish I could overcome because it ends up making me more stressed out overall when I have The Thing I've Been Putting Off and then all my other fun ideas AND STUDIES in the back of my head that also feel like they have deadlines on them. I'm still having trouble drawing stuff that isn't a character staring blankly off-screen with a solid colour background.

I started drawing a bunch of fake FEH alts during this period, and although I've really enjoyed designing them and getting to do more in-depth inking and rendering for once, I do feel like my time could be better spent drawing full pieces with backgrounds and, like, any thought for composition (since I'm hitting my skill ceiling with perspective and anatomy in particular for the alts - and the full pieces look 5000x more impressive). I still have a bunch of time-sensitive ideas for them, so I'm really not sure what to do here.

IMPROVEMENT METRICS

Anatomy/gesture: I am CERTAIN that my figure drawing improved because of Figuary but none of my actual finished stuff reflects that… I'm going to say same as last year just because I literally can't tell

Backgrounds/perspective: Much worse than last year lol

Composition/storytelling: Thinking about negative space more and still trying to add supporting elements. Worse than last year though

Colours/values: still having problems with stuff being too dark but also still working on it. Screencap studies could probably help this. Starting to get better at controlling saturation. Actually better than last year! Woo! Not a total failure!

Lighting/rendering: better than last year again, CAN I PLEASE TRADE THIS POWER FOR SOMETHING THAT'S ACTUALLY USEFUL??

PLAN OF ACTION FOR NEXT FOUR MONTHS:

Re-evaluate yearly goals

Finish DAB Lesson 7

one screenshot study per month, focussing on values first

two object studies per month

In September, I will have a better understanding of how the parts of the body fit together and be better at manipulating them, as simplified forms, in 3d space.